Carl Edwards has finished second twice in his career in races held at Daytona International Speedway. / Ed Szczepanski, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Daytona International Speedway roulette wheel will leave another NASCAR driver happily celebrating in victory lane after Saturday night's Coke Zero 400, but who that might be is anyone's guess.

Restrictor-plate races such as the ones run at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway are simply too unpredictable to forecast, and the races occasionally produce surprise winners.

"Every car in the field, with the exception of one or two, proved that anybody with this style of package can get up there and make it happen," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who finished second in February's Daytona 500.

And just two years ago, Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 in his second Sprint Cup start.

But the instances of random winners mean some of the sport's top drivers have never won a points race at Daytona.

"Restrictor-plate racing is just totally different. It's hard to honestly even group it with the other 32 races," said Matt Kenseth, who has won three plate races - including two Daytona 500s.

"Winning these races, there's a lot of circumstances that come into play."

Here are six stars who could get their first Daytona points victory Saturday (ranked by number of starts):

Kurt Busch

Starts: 25

Best finish: 2nd (three times)

Why he could win: Busch, who pushed then-teammate Ryan Newman to victory in the 2008 Daytona 500, is certainly capable of winning Saturday. He won the Daytona Nationwide Series race one year ago and understands how to get to the front. Of the drivers entered in the Coke Zero 400, Busch ranks seventh in career laps led here.

Kasey Kahne

Starts: 19

Best finish: 2nd

Why he could win: Hendrick power, anyone? Kahne drives for NASCAR's best team - Hendrick Motorsports - and teammate Jimmie Johnson just won the Daytona 500 in February. Kahne not only will have drivers who could work with him on the final run - Johnson, Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon, for starters - but it's likely those teammates also will be toward the front of the pack.

Carl Edwards

Starts: 17

Best finish:2nd (twice)

Why he could win: Edwards has led only four laps at Daytona in his Cup career, but he's come close to pulling off a victory on a couple occasions - most recently finishing second to Bayne. He was in position to win May's Talladega race until Ragan and Gilliland snuck by him at the finish.

Denny Hamlin

Starts: 15

Best finish: 3rd

Why he could win: Hamlin's restrictor-plate luck has to turn around sometime ... right? Though he won the first plate race he entered - an exhibition Budweiser Shootout in 2006 - he's never gone to victory lane at Daytona or Talladega since. He has two top-10 finishes at Daytona, but he did lead 33 laps in February's race - and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kenseth and Kyle Busch were strong until their engines blew up.

Clint Bowyer

Starts: 15

Best finish: 3rd

Why he could win: The lasting image of Bowyer at Daytona has been his car sliding across the finish line of the 2007 Daytona 500 on its roof. But as evidenced by his two wins at Talladega, he's a major threat on superspeedways.

Brad Keselowski

Starts: Eight

Best finish: 4th

Why he could win: After finishing 15th or worse in his first six career starts at Daytona, Keselowski has consecutive top-10 finishes in the last two races here. Plus, Keselowski absolutely knows how to win a restrictor-plate race - he has two Cup wins and another in the Nationwide Series at Talladega.